Fernandez, out since Saturday with an undisclosed injury, has not been on the ice since the ailment came to light. So now you can throw out all those hushed (and some not-so-hushed trade rumors).

He’s currently skating with fellow recovering injured players Patrice Bergeron, Andrew Ference and Milan Lucic. The full squad is scheduled to hit the ice in 30 minutes for its pregame skate in preparation for tonight’s showdown with Montreal.

BOSTON — The Providence Bruins and Hamilton Bulldogs of the American Hockey League are not scheduled to meet this season.

But it will feel like those two AHL contenders (the P-Bruins lead the Atlantic Division, while the Bulldogs are in a tight North Division race) are battling one another when the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens meet at TD Banknorth Garden tonight.

That’s because both teams have endured so much injury and illness that a number of players expected to spend the full year with their team’s respective farm clubs have been forced into one of the oldest, grudge-filled rivalries in the NHL.

Instead of skating in smaller barns and riding buses, the likes of Martin St. Pierre, Martins Karsums and Byron Bitz will be donning the spoked ‘B.’ And on the other side, the Habs will dress players such as Matt D’Agostini, Max Pacioretty and Kyle Chipchura.

This game will be more than a battle of the top two teams in the Northeast Division, more than another chapter in the ongoing feud between the two franchises, and more than a match-up of the two coaches selected to work the Eastern Conference bench at the 2009 All-Star Game.

This showdown will be a battle of organizational depth, and a chance for both clubs to show how much of that depth can help them overcome adversity. (more…)

Now that almost every NHL team is at or past the midway point for their seasons, it’s a good time to look at how some former members of the Boston Bruins are faring in other sweaters.

Coincidentally, two former Bruins, whose seasons are going in opposite directions right now, were featured prominently in their current teams’ local papers. In the Rocky Mountain News, Jim Benton featured goaltender Andrew Raycroft, who has started this season — his first with the Colorado Avalanche — with nine wins among his first 10 decisions. Raycroft might now be pushing Peter Budaj for the Avs’ No. 1 spot. (more…)

The Boston Bruins today announced five transactions, including one that will end a pretty impressive streak.

Winger Phil Kessel, tied for fourth in the NHL in goals scored with 24, was placed on injured reserve with mononucleosis. Kessel’s streak of 167 consecutive regular-season games played will end when the Bruins take the ice against Montreal at TD Banknorth Garden tomorrow night. That streak dates back to Kessel’s return from his battle with cancer in his rookie season. Of course, he missed three games as a healthy scratch during last season’s playoffs.

In the other moves, the Bruins returned goaltender Kevin Regan and defenseman Matt Lashoff to Providence (AHL) and recalled goaltender Tuukka Rask and center Martin St. Pierre from the P-Bruins on an emergency basis. This means that Manny Fernandez is still a question mark to be available for the Habs game. Fernandez has been out since it was revealed he is suffering from minor injury Saturday.

Boston Bruins defenseman Shane Hnidy, who has missed the club’s last two games with a severely swollen left eye, was able to participate in the team’s full practice today at Ristuccia Arena in Wilmington.

Hnidy, who took a Cal Clutterbuck shot to the face against Minnesota Jan. 6, usually does not wear a shield on his helmet, but he did today and will have to for a short time. Hnidy said today that he was awaiting doctor’s clearance to return to game action.

Bruins head coach Clade Julien can sympathize with Hnidy. The Bruins’ bench boss revealed today that he suffered a similar injury in Europe during his playing days, and “almost lost” his eye. He had to wear a shield for a short time but then discarded it because he couldn’t get used to it.

“For me, my thought process is on that, if you’ve played your whole life with one, or at least a half visor, why take it off if you’re used to playing with it. Guys that haven’t played with it, I know it can be something that’s not that easy to get used to,” Julien said. “At the same time, there’s going to be a debate. I’ve seen a lot of injuries happen with guys that have visors. The blade gets caught under the visor and they’ve lost an eye anyway. So it can be a debatable thing.”

WILMINGTON, Mass. — Boston Bruins goatlender Manny Fernandez did not partake in any hockey activity today, and according to head coach Claude Julien, Fernandez remains sidelined with a “minor issue” that the coach clarified is an injury.

“It’s a minor issue that we thought would be resolved by today; might be resolved by tomorrow,” Julien said. “He’s definitely not a scratch right now for tomorrow.”

In Fernandez’s place, Kevin Regan made his way from Providence (AHL) on an emergency basis for his first regular-season NHL practice. (more…)

WILMINGTON, Mass. — Before the Boston Bruins took the ice as a team for practice today at Ristuccia Arena, defenseman Andrew Ference, winger Milan Lucic and center Patrice Bergeron all skated as part of their attempt to return from injury.

While the return of Ference from a broken foot and Lucic from an undisclosed injury will be crucial for the Bruins, obviously Bergeron’s return from his second concussion in 14 months is the most high-profile of the Bruins’ injured players right now. Bruins head coach Claude Julien reported that all three players are doing well.

“They all skated this morning. So they’re all in day-to-day situations where we can’t put a time on any of those guys. Some could be back much sooner than others. We’ve just to keep going with that,” Julien explained.

Asked specifically about Bergeron, Julien responded: “He did well. He was out there for over half an hour and continues to progress.”

Bergeron also skated yesterday, so this was his second day back on skates. Bergeron was not available to speak after his skate.

WILMINGTON, Mass. — Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron skated this morning — it’s believed for the first time since his Dec. 20 concussion — prior to his teammates taking the ice for their full practice at Ristuccia Arena.

I’ll have more details on Bergeron’s workout later today.

The entire squad that played Saturday is on the ice right now, plus defenseman Shane Hnidy, who has missed the last two games with a severely swollen left eye. Hnidy had practiced last Friday in a red non-contact jersey, but today he is in a regular black defenseman’s jersey.

The offensive lines are the same from Saturday, and rookie Kevin Regan is one of the two goaltenders along with Tim Thomas. There is no sign of Milan Lucic, who has been out with an undisclosed injury.

On Saturday the Bruins recalled Tuukka Rask from Providence (AHL) on an emergency basis to back up Tim Thomas in Fernandez’s absence. After the game they demoted Rask back to the P-Bruins.

This morning brings word that the Bruins have recalled Kevin Regan, the former UNH star and a South Boston native, from Providence on an emergency basis. Regan is expected to practice with Boston today in Wilmington. I’ll have more on this story as it develops.

The game we’ve all been waiting for will arrive Tuesday night, when the Montreal Canadiens make a TD Banknorth Garden visit for the second time since last spring’s playoff series with the Boston Bruins.

Although Montreal’s power play isn’t as potent as it was the last two seasons, the Canadiens can still hold their own on the attack. And two of the suddenly sizzling Habs scorers are Tomas Plekanec and Sergei Kostitsyn, as Dave Stubbs writes in today’s Montreal Gazette.

Also in the Gazette, Pat Hickey looks at how the Canadiens actually have a better record at this point of this season than they did at the same point last year, despite major injuries to Saku Koivu, Chris Higgins and others. Obviously, Montreal’s prospect pipeline with Hamilton (AHL) has been as effective as the one Boston has enjoyed with Providence.

He’s threatening to supplant Marc Savard as the Boston Bruins’ No. 1 center, and he also might be the biggest snub among those not selected as Eastern Conference reserves for the 2009 NHL All-Star Game.

Last week, Bruins center David Krejci was just phenomenal. The Bruins were shut out in their lone loss of the week (vs. Minnesota), but in their other two games — wins over Ottawa and Carolina — Krejci posted 2-3-5 totals and a plus-4 rating. Those numbers earned him Bruin of the Week honors for the seven-day period ending today. (more…)

In his most recent weekly column for SI.com, NHL writer Allan Muir handed out his midseason awards. Among those recognized by Muir, Boston Bruins defenseman Dennis Wideman, who the writer named his Norris Trophy winner as the best defenseman in the NHL.

Muir makes the argument that Wideman has been the best “all-around defender on the league’s best defensive team since Day One” — even better than Zdeno Chara.

MK: While I agree that Wideman has enjoyed a superb first half, I cannot overlook the fact that Chara continues to get the Grade A assignments — against the likes of Alexander Ovechkin, Ilya Kovalchuk and Thomas Vanek — and continues to make sure those guys don’t erupt against the Bruins. And Chara still produces at the same clip offensively. But if Wideman duplicates his first-half performance in the second half, he should be in the conversation for the Norris, even if there’s really no shot of him making the final three (the media will hypnotically vote in Nicklas Lidstrom and Dion Phaneuf, leaving just one spot open).

By virtue of their 5-4 win over Washington last night in Montreal, the Canadiens clinched the second-best points percentage in the Eastern Conference — earning the All-Star assistant coach’s position for their head coach Guy Carbonneau. Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette has the story.

That means that the Habs bench boss will aid Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien, who will be the East’s head coach by virtue of Boston’s conference-best points percentage, at the 2009 NHL All-Star Game in Montreal Jan. 25. It also means that two bitter rivals will have to share the bench. When Julien was fired by Montreal in February 2006, it was done with the intent of making way for Carbonneau to take the reins (although general manager Bob Gainey initially took over on an interim basis).

And last season, the Bruins and Habs met 15 times, including seven in the playoffs — with plenty of verbal jabs and blows flying back in forth. The rivalry really began to cook in the regular season when Julien swapped angry words with both Carbonneau and Montreal assistant Kirk Muller late in one game at the Bell Center. Let the drama begin!

Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien made a slight tweak to his power play units yesterday during his team’s 5-1 win over Carolina at TD Banknorth Garden.

Defenseman Dennis Wideman, who’d been filling Patrice Bergeron’s spot on one point on the top unit, was shifted back to the second unit, where he’d had tons of success prior to Bergeron’s injury. Aaron Ward, who had seem scarce power-play minutes before yesterday, played the right point on the No. 1 unit opposite Zdeno Chara.

The Bruins were a solid 1-for-5 with the man-advantage against the Hurricanes.

“We really felt that Dennis Wideman was a real key to that other power play with (center David) Krejci. And obviously with Andrew Ference, at the beginning of the year, those two were great. That other power play was, as you recall, was the one that was producing most,” Juien explained. “And we just felt that we had two solid guys on that back end with Zdeno and Wideman and basically you want that one guy to be the guy and then use the other guy on the other power play. And it kind of balances things out.”

BOSTON — Boston Bruins forward Byron Bitz didn’t just survive his first NHL game, he made it one to remember today.

During the Bruins’ 5-1 win over Carolina, Bitz registered an assist for his first NHL point and threw four hits in 9:58 of ice time skating on the fourth line alongside Shawn Thornton and Petteri Nokelainen.

“I think I was more nervous yesterday than I was today. I got out there in warm-up and I felt pretty good,” he said after the game.

“I was just trying to keep it simple – just chip the puck in, chip it out and try to finish all my checks,” he continued. “And if I get a chance to shoot, shoot it.” (more…)